Foe Or Friend?
by Luigisgirlfriend
Summary: Mr. L unknowingly eats a poisonous mushroom. He should be dead, except for the heroes (Mario, Peach, Bowser) happen to wander by. If Mario helps the mechanic, is there a possibility of a friendship forming?


**Me- ... Hee hee...**

**Mr. L- I'm not sure I wanna be your friend anymore, Sam... **

**Me- *Sigh* Just because I torture you in my stories? **

**Mr. L- Yes! :( **

**Me- ... Your loss. **

**Mr. L- ... **

**Me- 'Ello! You can thank Kortez Koopa for the name of this story. I couldn't come up with one ^^' **

**Mr. L- Good. **

**Me- ... Could someone please convince Mr. L to like me again...? Anyways, R&R! **

"Y'know what would be terrific? If someone built a warp pipe that went from Flipside to Castle Bleck! Then we wouldn't have to go through all these stupid levels! Bowser was, as usual, complaining. Mario and Peach exchanged an annoyed glance.

"We're just going through this level again to get more coins," Mario bent down and picked up a Shroom Shake that was behind a rock. "We're almost out."

"Yeah, we only have 68 coins left," Peach added.

"69," Bowser grumbled as he plucked a coin from the air. The trio was currently going through the Bitlands again; the very first section of the Bitlands. Mario and Peach had dragged- literally dragged, by the arms- Bowser back there to collect coins and items.

"You should stop talking, Bowser," Mario suggested calmly. "You're making me mad."

"I don't care!" Bowser suddenly roared, stopping. Mario and Peach halted too and looked at the Koopa King. "I don't even want to be on this stupid adventure!"

"Guys..." Peach said quietly, looking at something a couple yards in front of her.

"Well then you can just leave!" Mario yelled back. "I don't want you here!"

"Guys," Peach said, a little louder.

"Maybe I'll leave as soon as we get to Flipside!" Bowser countered angrily.

"You do that!" Mario snarled.

"Guys!" Peach yelled, as loud as she could.

"What?" Mario and Bowser asked, looking at the princess. Peach wordlessly pointed to a pile of black and green a few yards away from the group. Mario ran over to the figure and knelt down.

"This is Mr. L... One of Bleck's lackeys..." Mario murmured. Mr. L was lying on his side, one hand loosely clutching a purple mushroom with black spots. His eyes were squeezed shut. His chest was heaving quickly and unevenly.

"Is he okay?" Peach asked, kneeling down next to the mechanic as well.

"Who cares about him!?" Bowser growled, stomping over. "He's a bad guy! Let's leave him so we can get back to Flipside!"

"He might be a bad guy," Mario said, reaching into his pockets and pulling out a stethoscope. "But he's a living person, and he's in trouble." He set the medical instrument aside and pried the mushroom from L's hand.

"That's a poison mushroom," Peach gasped.

"Yeah..." Mario showed Peach the bite mark on it. "And he ate it."

"Who cares?!" Bowser roared, scaring away all the nearby enemies.

"I do," Mario threw the mushroom at Bowser and then picked up the stethoscope. He put the ends in his ears and then placed the metal end over Mr. L's heart. His eyes slowly widened. He looked up at Peach.

"You know what a normal heartbeat sounds like, right?" The red plumber asked. Peach slowly shook her head.

"Not really."

"Here," Mario handed Peach the stethoscope and waited for her to put the ends in her ears before placing the metal end over his own heart. Peach listened to his steady heartbeat.

"Okay..." She nodded.

"Now, listen to _his_ heartbeat," Mario moved the metal end to Mr. L's heart. Peach gasped. Mr. L's heart was beating at an incredibly fast pace. There was no pause at all between the rapid heartbeats.

"It sounds like he's been hard running for, like, ten minutes..." Peach said, taking the stethoscope out of her ears.

"It's the poison from the mushroom... It's messing with his heart... Trying to shut it down..." Mario bit his lip and pulled out the Shroom Shake he had picked up earlier.

"There is no way you're wasting that on him!" Bowser roared, making a grab for the shake. Mario threw the shake to Peach, whipped around, and punched Bowser in the stomach.

"Shut up!" Mario shouted as Bowser fell to the ground, moaning in pain. "Like I said before, he's a living person! But, he's dying! As a hero and a doctor, it is my responsibility to save him! Even if he is a bad guy! So just shut your oversized mouth!"

"Nicely said," Peach congratulated quietly.

"Thank you," Mario knelt back down. "Can you hold Mr. L up so I can get him to drink this?"

"Yeah," Peach pulled Mr. L into her lap and rested his head on her shoulder. Mario opened the Shroom Shake and looked at the liquid inside of it.

"Make sure he doesn't choke or anything, okay?" The red plumber put the can to Mr. L's lips. "You're not supposed to give a comatose person food or water... Oh well." Mario tilted the can back. Mr. L immediately coughed harshly, the liquid coming back out the sides of his mouth. Peach readjusted the shivering, gasping mechanic. Mario tried again, gently but firmly pressing his hand against L's throat. Mr. L coughed slightly, but then started drinking the Shroom Shake. His chest slowly stopped heaving until it was moving rhythmically again.

When the can was empty, Mario put is aside and picked up the stethoscope. He put the end on Mr. L's chest. Mr. L's heartbeat was already returning to a normal pace. Mario smiled faintly.

"He'll be okay," He put away the stethoscope. Peach used her sleeve to gently wipe L's mouth off. Then, she placed her hand on L's forehead.

"He's got a fever," She told Mario.

"Yeah, it's an effect of the Shroom Shake fighting off the poisons. Don't worry," Mario assured. "You know... We got here just in time...That poison had probably been in his system for at least fifteen minutes. He'll be unconscious for a couple days..."

"... We can't just leave him here..." Peach whispered.

"I know... The fever, if left unmonitered, could kill him and then our efforts would be for nothing," Mario murmured. "And we can't take him back to Castle Bleck because... Well, like Bowser said, there's no warp pipe or door to there yet... We'll have to take him to Flipside..."

"You do what you want but I'm not helping!" Bowser growled, turning and stomping away. Mario sighed and picked Mr. L up.

"Let's go."

**Me- :3**

**Mr. L- ...**

**Me- At least you didn't die!**

**Mr. L- No, but I almost did! **

**Me- ... :/ **

**Mr. L- ... Stop. **

**Me- Stop what.**

**Mr. L- Giving me that look... **

**Me- ... :D**

**Mr. L- :) **

**Me- I HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN!**

**Mario- ... What part of that sentence made her think she was forgiven? **

**Mr. L- NO, MARIO, GO AWAY. *Chases Mario away***

**Me- XD Please review! **


End file.
